Sheet-metal ball and method and means of making the same.



Jv H. GRUVER.

:mm mm BALI. um mnmm um mums OF MAKING THE SAME.

APPLICATION ilLEU APR. -4 W17. RENEWED JUNE 1h "9H1.

l'ulvnicdNrM 17, 1918.

3 SH EEYS-S HLET I Fig. 5.

llve vezato; Jbs 67972 H. (iraz'cr (ref/Q,

60 ham! M Attydg I H. GRUVER. SHEET METAL BALL AND MHHOD AND MEANS OF MAKING TME'sAMF.

APPLCATION FILED APR. 14. 1917. RENEWED JUNE 12, 1918- latvnted Sept. 17, 1918 3 SHEETS-SHEII 2.

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J. H GRUVER. SHEET METAL BALL AND METHOD AND MEANS OF MAKING THE SAME.

RENEWEUJUNE12,19I81 APPLICATION FILED APR. 14. 191?.

Patenttad Sept. 17, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

; if ake?" UNITED STATES;

fimfifimfl; rem emf) mein obhnhinnesm on wmmeg 3m Patented Sept; 17-, ibis-8 1 I A iicmun m d A pril m, 1917, Serial No. 182,092I Benewed June 12,1818. sum 110 mm! T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JosmuLHsimx Grie um, a eitjzenef the United States, end 1'es1 dent of Baltimore, Maryland, have mvented' Fig. 2 gr seeb'ienmjl View illustrating a ep"er'afiaien. on] thebl'enk. 1 Fig1'3'is zivi'ew "of a tool with the blank thmfbn, the said tool onhing; pert 'otthe x'neelial'xism for trimming and" formin he 20 part 01? a press for performing a second 2 edge hf the blank ready for subsequent '80 opemtiensupon the blan Fig. 6 i a" View of-u die whieh when substit. ted fan the die shown in Fig, 5 wi11,pertherfstepjactien on the blahk to ,ijeerlysplgericall' 1g. 7 15-11 view 0f epertly tolledblank illlujfiretifg the ,epening as pa rtly elased as consequence hi? a rolling action on the e fthe rbllihgb'jnnitionhw been djtheife'onl 1; :es' e machine fer perferme. Telling ecti'on on the blank,

Fig. ,10 illustrates the hlenlcfjrdi flerent 5 stages ef the ,OPBIBAMOII.

enyfs table, press that may be emfaleyed cam l View mm; com lete I I H tlon termlflabi' eesab'ove down-red.

flange-6 mg 1 this is i11ustmt iveof' the form shown-eta b, Fig. 10; This of elongated. cup'shaped fornris anew trimmed at'i upper edge by means of tool A," showh in Fig. 3;the bl'ank being;

suitably'held by clam s or. jaws or my; whee- 60 suitable form of hfol er and the said @001 which is adapted to trimand bevel theedg'e uf-the blank and refe bl this. bv lifiglin is done on the outer side of thegup er edge,"

it beipg understjobd that the 001 lilfbihk' allpa rts f the edge of l'the blehk'bifeefbd 1 uu on b "the "ending edge of eh A There may be two of these cuttinghdges y I on fihe tqol so as to increase the-produfi The blank after being -taken frome'thje A is in the" form shewn'in Ei g. I0; from which it will be noticedjt hat'theu fie edge oithe blank iseufi 01'. trimmed incline ext-ending npWWdlyhhdihwai This edge havingthus been'tr hnmeii sn'looth threugh'e'ut itsenbirejexteht, b g free from jagged portions or' indented-ti; er split portgihnser scales, sefthat "Tnlthesu sequent Operation Of turningthe lankflint blank to dim-m .11 bedy Withgami'nwa y 5 a turned well '01? portion at a the blink d, .10, streightneck ipo "enae in the Thenext step eonsietsiu the nek portiena? ofthe b i so that thezbl'ankwill jthemarssu 10.-This ferm0 at 7, h1 2. 10, it had-i1 ing at; 2 shown 'inwsaul of the; blank in en: given a relative rotary; moti mfsu thetf" of Fig. 5 but separate there m. The

blank of the form 7 shown in Fi 10is now annealed or softened to render i fit forthe subsequent rolling operation. A just stated this blank .has a small openin indicated atz andit will be observed the the inclined face of the edge of the blank this hole will be of a tapered form with the small diameter portion nearest the center of the blank. A 'number-oftheselblanks are now laced in grooves'of the plates 2, and 3 of ig. 9-and a rolling action is performed on the blanks by the relative rotationof these plates, said plates meanwhile being pressed toward each other. This rolling action reduces the blanks slightly in diameter and partlyclose s the hole therein by reason of the rolling action causing the metal to work inwardly in the plane of the spherical surface from all directions toward the center of the opening. The blank after the first rolling. action is performed thereon assumes the form shown in Fig. 7, in which it will be noticed that the innershar corner of the inclinedend or edge face a of the blank is brought together from all directions and the closing action. of the opening has been started. After the first rolling action f recess the surplus metal is completed'the blanks are again annealed to prepare them by softeningfor the second or final rolling action. -This final rolling action is performed by an apparatus simil ar to that shown in Fig- .9 in which,

however, the groove or grooves for receiving the balls are of-smaller diameter than the groove or groovespf the first rolling machine. The result of this second rolling action 1s.

illustrated inFigtB showing in section the completed ball, 1n which it willbe observed that the. metal had accumulated onthe interior of the blank at the point where the opening is closed or in other words at the point where the circular edge of theblank is pressed from all directions toward the center. ,1 I

""ItQwill' be observed by domparing 'Fi ..7

- and 8 .that;theg'tapered in the b ank of Fig. T is! bygthe second rolling action filled up by crowding or s aging or flowiig .the. metal over into this ilnwardly taper [the ball. .By this method of operation therewill be no tendency for themetal to .lap on the outer side of .the ball in a thin layer and there will be no action, resulting,

- such as closing the opening with a thin a layer leaving the inner parts of the p ns unfilled.

In thepresent'process'the firsttlosing 0!? the opening :takes place at theinne'rmost part of the wall or the meeting edgl as-iof the blank and this is followed by a gradual'fillbecause of thickness of th "shell ametal, without seanr-onjointi; having an composed of fibers; of the m'etal mechanically knittedj'toget er, and beowing". inwardly, ing surrounded on all sides as in icatedfat a','Fig. 8, where it remains without detriment to the structure or use'of; It will also belcbser vedthati'iit one sta I 1. A-hollow:"ball nf :of metal ing up of" the ,conic'al opening 'from the in terior to theexterior of the ball, sothat the. final product will have itsxwallclosed or unitedfor the full thickness of the shell and furthermore, there will be extra. thick .70 ness 0 metal at this point, due to the flow ing inwardly of the metal as shown' at a, v this addin strength to the ball herejand 'e'fr fectually c osin the opening throughout the a =16. I do'not limit myself to the employment of two machines forperforming the rolling I operations. v It will .be observed that thetrimmin'gfof the edge of the blank by the tool shown in "3 Fig. 3 prepares theedg'e-for uniting with opposite portionsof said edge as the'r'esult Y of the rolling operatioii'and all parts of-the f edge come together uniformly and at the; 1 same time closing the opening and as the edge is free from split or serrated portions a uniform closing action will take place, metal at oneside of the opening uniting with. that atthe other sidesatthe same time that other portions of the edge unite with each other.

The tool shown in Fig. '3 may be substituted by a tool of like form but adapted 'tolf. provide a different 'form of the edge of the blank but ineither case the tool not-only trims ,the edge to remove scale and serrated 1 or split or jagged portions of said edge but thins or bevels the edge so that by a proper rolling action the opening'will be solidly and uniformly closed' 1 i I As shown in Fig. Et -"the trimming tool may have its inclined cutting edgemerge into a cutting edge at the top for trimming the extreme- Upperedge iabove the inclinedor beveled face of the Inbtah-this top trim- 1 ming edge in the. form shown-being a curved con-tlnuation of the inclined cutting edge.

It will be seen from the above that the article produced is of one piece ;of sheet isolated accumulation dfmetali pn'its interior f at one spot, that is where the ;bal1 is finally closed, this accumulation cf metal being-y ori "al sheet metal insheet-fornfit;

the origi g. of the process for 'making'the'ball the blank assumes approximately a spherical form [with an opening, the edge ofwhiehlim; in

one plane opening.

What

transverse to the agris {of the I claim is:

v in without seam orfjbintffor' d.-fr In a single piece of sheet metal, isaidishe a ball havmg an. isolated aecuniiil'ait-io" of m'etal theremat the one'spot whe re t e balli is finally;

closed, Said 'is'olated 'pcc ulatipn 1:9.

made up of the fibers of the original metal mechanically knitted together and being surrounded on all sides by the original metal in sheet form, substantially as described.

2. The hereindescribed process of making a one-piece sheet metal hollow ball consist- .ing in making an approximately ball-like the edge about said opening substantially,

circular and in one plane transverse to the axis of the opening and with the edge face inclined to said axis, thus providin an inwardly tapered recess and then rol ing the.

body under pressure to spherical form until the opening is closed, substantially as descn t 4. The herein described process of making a one-piece sheet metal hollow ball consisting in forming a blank of substantially cup-shape with a circular edge in one plane transverse to the cups axis and inclined to the said axis, transforming said cup into a form approximating that of a halt-and by rolling the blank under pressure bringing .the inclined circular edge portion together to close the opening, substantially as described.

The herein described process of making a one-piece sheet metal hollow ball consisting in forming a blank of substantially cup-shape with the edge face inclined to the axis of the cup, transforming said cup into a form approximating that of the ball with. an, opening therein tapering inwardly as bounded b 7 said inclined edge and by roll: ing the ba 1 under pressure bringing the inclined edge portion together to close the opening.

6. The herein described method of making a one-piece sheet metal hollow ball consisting in first making a blank of cup-shape with a circular edge lying substantially in one plane transverse to the axis of the cup, trimming the circular edge to provide a. surface inclined to the axis of the cup, then upsetting the blank to approximately spherical form and then rolling the blank to work the metal inwardly from all sides of the opening to close the same, substantially as described.

7. The herein described method of mak ing a one-piece sheet metal hollow ball con sisting in first forminga blank of cup-shape with a circular edge lying in one plane transverse to the axis of the cup, trimming the circular edge of said cup-shaped blank While maintaining its edge upstanding in the plan-e of the side wall of the blank, then upsetting the blank into substantially spherical form and finally rolling it under pressure to Work the metal of the edge in-- wardly from all sides of the opening to close the same, substantially as described.

8. The herein described method of mak ing hollow sheet metal balls consistingin forming a cup-shaped blank with a circular edge. lying in one plane transverse to the axis of the blank, trimming the. circular edge of said blank while exerting pressure thereon in the direction parallel with the wall of the blank and toward the bottom thereof, Ilien upsetting the blank into ball form, and rolling it under pressure to work the metal inwardly from all sides of the opening to close the same, substantially as described' t 9. The hereindescribed process of making a one-piece sheet metal hollow ball consisting in forming a blank of substantially cup-shape with the edge face inclined to the axis of the cup, transforming said cup into a form approximating thatof the ball witli'a tapered opening therein as bounded by said inclined edge and then rolling the ball under pressure to mechanically knit together all parts of the inclined edge and until an accurjnhlation of the metal occurs on the interioi of the ball, substantially as described.

10. The hereindescribed process of making a one-piece sheet metal hollow ball con sisting in making "a blank of approximately spherical form with an opening, the edge of whlch lies'in one plane transverse to the;

axis of the opening and then rolling the ball under pressure to,mechanically knit all parts of the edge together and until metal has accumulated on the interior of ball at the point of closure and projecting inwardly from the wall at the closure, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I aliix my signa ture.

JOSEPH HARRY GRtii ERZ- Attest J. WM. Sn'nrrm. 

